Department for Transport

Air Space

lord taylor of warwick: To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to amend UK airspace regulations after Brexit; and whether any such plans would be affected by a no-deal Brexit.

baroness sugg: The Government is aiming to ensure that UK airspace remains interoperable with neighbouring EU airspace. In the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal, the provisions of the EU airspace and air traffic management regulations would be replicated in national law under the EU Withdrawal Act. The UK would also continue to be a member of the intergovernmental organisation, Eurocontrol, providing a mechanism to coordinate on airspace issues with other European States.

Bus Services: Concessions

baroness randerson: To ask Her Majesty's Government how they intend to meet the £652 million funding gap, identified by analysis from the Local Government Association published on 9 February, required to cover the total costs of the National Concessionary Travel Scheme for bus passengers.

baroness sugg: Funding for the English National Concessionary Travel Scheme (ENCTS) is provided to local authorities through the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government’s (MHCLG’s) revenue support grant. This funding is not ringfenced, which enables local authorities to make spending decisions that more closely match local needs and circumstances. It is misleading to talk about the grant in isolation when local authorities have access to council tax, business rates and other local income to deliver their local services.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Yemen: Arms Trade

the lord bishop of st albans: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 28 March (HL14604), whether third parties have provided information specifically about weapons made or sold by British companies and then used in Yemen; and if so, whether they will publish (1) that information, and (2) their assessment of it.

lord young of cookham: We are aware that some UK licensed weapons have been used by Saudi Arabia in the conflict in Yemen. We examine every export licence application rigorously on a case-by-case basis against the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria, including an assessment of whether there is a clear risk that the items might be used in the commission of a serious violation of international humanitarian law (IHL). We regularly raise the importance of compliance with IHL with the Saudi Arabian Government and other members of the Coalition and draw on a range of sources in making assessments, including non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and international organisations and continue to monitor the situation closely, seeking further information where appropriate. We welcome any further information NGOs and international organisations can provide. The Department for International Trade publish export licensing statistics quarterly, which can be found on the gov.uk website.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Environment Agency: Rural Payments Agency

lord colgrain: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Environment Agency computer systems share information with the computer systems of the Rural Payments Agency; and if not, when this might be introduced.

lord gardiner of kimble: At present, there are no direct system-to-system data exchanges between Rural Payments Agency and Environment Agency systems. Defra is committed to sharing data internally within the Department, externally across Government and with any interested party. Both the Rural Payments Agency and the Environment Agency publish datasets on the publicly available Defra Multi-Agency Geographic Information for the Countryside website, and within the Defra Spatial Repository and Toolkits which are accessible to all Defra Group organisations. Defra also publishes more than 8,000 datasets, which are publicly available under open licence. However, both organisations have access to the Defra Customer and Land Database (CLAD) which is due to be replaced in 2019 by a system called CLARIS, which will enable the Environment Agency to have access to Rural Payments Agency land data. Additionally, the Rural Payments Agency periodically provides the Environment Agency with a manual extract of data relating to the ownership of land within Nitrate Vulnerable Zones for cross-compliance purposes. As part of its wider consolidation and upgrade of IT systems the Defra Group is adopting shared IT platforms, for example cloud email services, document management, customer relationship management and identity management platforms. Agency data will coexist within the same physical platforms which may facilitate data sharing where there is a specific purpose for that data to be shared, and this is done in accordance with regulations such as the Data Protection Act and appropriate interagency data sharing agreements.

Cattle: Exports

baroness hodgson of abinger: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many live calves under two months old were exported in each year from 2014 to 2018; and what percentage of the total amount of the calves exported went for slaughter in each of those years.

lord gardiner of kimble: The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) issues Export Health Certificates (EHC) for animals and products of animal origin. APHA does not record the age of animals when they are exported. The following information is taken from consignments of Bovine animals exported to the EU in 2016, 2017 and 2018 where a consignment included unweaned animals. In 2016 a total of 3786 bovine animals were recorded as being exported on a Journey Log containing unweaned animals In 2017 a total of 6024 bovine animals were recorded as being exported on a Journey Log containing unweaned animals In 2018 a total of 5425 bovine animals were recorded as being exported on a Journey Log containing unweaned animals None of the animals were exported directly for slaughter. This data includes exports from holdings in England, Scotland and Wales. Movements between Northern Ireland (NI) and The Republic of Ireland (RoI) is a devolved matter, data for this can be requested from DAERA.

Sheep: Exports

baroness hodgson of abinger: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many live sheep were exported in each year from 2014 to 2018; where those sheep were exported to; and what percentage of the total amount of sheep exported went for slaughter in each of those years.

lord gardiner of kimble: The table for the total number of sheep exported in the years 2014 to 2018, including the destination country and the percentage of sheep exported for slaughter in each year is set out below. YearCountry exported toTotalPercentage of the total number of sheep exported went for slaughter2014 528864.90% Austria53  Belgium6216  Czech Republic8  Denmark2  Estonia15  France26357  Germany1804  Guernsey2  Ireland142  isle of Man668  Italy332  Jersey3  Latvia97  Malta4  Northern Ireland8171  Romania30  Switzerland55  The Netherlands8927 2015 408248.10% Belgium2696  France23858  Germany562  Guernsey2  Ireland770  Isle of Man404  Italy58  Lithuania25  Northern Ireland7381  Poland5  Portugal6  Romania12  Switzerland51  The Netherlands4994 2016 6616510.60% Austria49  Belgium4319  Denmark3  Estonia28  Finland15  France20225  Germany15028  Guernsey9  Hungary23  Ireland1079  Isle of Man3265  Italy66  Jersey22  Latvia37  Northern Ireland10085  Spain14  Switzerland118  The Netherlands11780 2017 4478120% Austria2  Belgium7278  Czech Republic13  Estonia12  France8719  Germany1781  Ireland5889  Isle of Man4944  Italy32  Jersey8  Northern Ireland11989  Portugal68  Romania13  Spain45  Sweden19  Switzerland97  The Netherlands3872 2018 406269.30% Austria3  Belgium2347  Croatia (Local Name: Hrvatska)99  Estonia73  France12506  Germany208  Guernsey8  Hungary1  Ireland11042  Isle of Man648  Italy39  Jersey68  Lithuania108  Northern Ireland10711  Portugal92  Romania68  Serbia30  Spain53  Switzerland158  The Netherlands2364  This data includes exports from holdings in England, Scotland and Wales. Movements between Northern Ireland (NI) and The Republic of Ireland (RoI) is a devolved matter, data for this can be requested from DAERA.

Cattle: Exports

baroness hodgson of abinger: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many live cattle were exported in each year from 2014 to 2018; and what percentage of the total amount of cattle exported went for slaughter in each of those years.

lord gardiner of kimble: The below table shows the number of cattle exported from Great Britain and the percentage of cattle exported for slaughter from Great Britain from 2014 to 2018. YearTotal number of cattle exportedPercentage of cattle exported that went for slaughter20147,53945.60%20155,21239.70%201611,07023.30%201717,96036.40%201815,18333.80%Grand Total56,964  Of the 56,964 animals exported from 2014 to 2018, 19,781 were exported directly for slaughter. Of this number, 18,629 were destined for Northern Ireland. This data includes exports from holdings in England, Scotland and Wales. Movements between Northern Ireland (NI) and The Republic of Ireland (RoI) is a devolved matter, data for this can be requested from DEARA.

Agriculture Bill

lord morris of aberavon: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the answer byLord Young of Cookham on 25 March (HL Deb, col 1612), when they will respond to the concerns raised by the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee on their approach to delegated powers in the Agriculture Bill, as set out in that Committee's Thirty Fourth Report, published on 17 October 2018 (HL Paper 194).

lord gardiner of kimble: Defra acknowledges the concerns raised by the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee. The department is considering all elements of the Committee’s Report and how these might be addressed. The Agriculture Bill is to be scheduled for Commons Report Stage in due course. It is the Government’s intention to respond to the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee, before Commons Report stage, as indicated in our letter to the Committee dated 17 January.